A memecoin called LAPTOP, which Hunter Biden (헌터 바이든), the son of former U.S. President Joe Biden, helped found, surged right after trading began and then plunged more than 95 percent in about 30 minutes.

On Sept. 9 (local time), Cryptopolitan reported that LAPTOP started trading at 8:02 p.m. on the Base network built by Coinbase and hit its peak just 2 minutes later. Blockchain analytics firm Arkham estimated that fully diluted value briefly jumped to $144 billion, but fell sharply to $5 billion about 30 minutes later. The liquidity pool was only about $48,000 at the time, meaning FDV does not indicate actual invested funds or a stable market value.

Large-scale token movements were also detected during the drop. Market maker Wintermute received 2.5 million LAPTOP from the project's multi-signature wallet and then moved about 2.09 million of them to multiple wallets and deposit addresses at centralized exchanges. Onchain Lens analyzed that about 500,000 tokens were sold for about $2 million through 356 transactions. Even so, token movements alone cannot confirm improper insider selling.

Investors who bought at the peak suffered heavy losses. One wallet tracked by Lookonchain withdrew $250,000 from Binance and then bought 919 LAPTOP at $218 each, spending about $200,000. The value of that holding later fell to about $3,000.

Warnings about token distribution also emerged before launch. Bubblemaps analyzed that many of the top holding wallets were recently created and that 60 percent of the top wallets had no prior on-chain activity. LAPTOP allocated 20 percent of total supply to an airdrop, with some designed to be paid to wallets that incurred losses investing in Donald Trump's TRUMP token. The founders' allocation is 30 percent.

Before the launch, Hunter Biden confirmed a Wall Street Journal report and disclosed his involvement in the LAPTOP project. As another memecoin linked to a prominent politician shows extreme volatility again, it is again highlighting how thin liquidity and concentrated token distribution can create significant risks for retail investors.